The US uses its fair amount of pesticide on citrus too.. I'm sure the control is better now than it was 30 years ago, but we keep finding out that the pesticides we use turned out to be more harmful than we thought.

Oh, I'm sure the US uses plenty of rotten things. In fact, I'm sure of it. I live in the breadbasket, and there are towns North of me that can't use well-water because of runoff from ConAgra-owned grain fields or feed lots. Still, though, a good thorough washing is in order, but I wouldn't be too afraid of it afterward. I'm probably intentionally naive about it, though.

My boyfriend and I made these with orange peels for Christmas gifts one year. We made a ton, and it took a super long time, but it was worth it and we got a lot of good feedback.

However, we rolled them in powdered sugar and dipped them in melted chocolate-- it's another step, but well worth it! To do this, you take a bag of chocolate chips (we did milk and dark-- I liked the dark chocolate better), and melt them slowly over a double boiler, stirring constantly. The exact temperature isn't important unless you want a glossy, professional shell-- if you want this, Joy of Cooking has great instructions. Once the chocolate is melted, dip the peels in one by one and set them on a cookie sheet to harden. Yum!